RE: Lithium?

[Guest guest]

Hi,

How progressed is your mother's illness? Is she confused about other

things? Lithium is almost archaic in the treatment of Bipolar disorder and

as I understand it, there are newer, much more effective medicines with less

side effects. Also if you are concerned that she might not be able to keep

track of it reliably then finding someone to administer medicines would

probably be a good idea. For my mother in law we had someone come in three

times a day to dispense the medicine. She was confused about it and we

learned often taking too much or not enough. I made up the pill pack for

the week and we paid an agency to come in and help her three times a day.

After not being able to drive anymore, having someone come in to do this

with medicines was a huge big deal for her. She was quite upset and kept

asking " don't you trust me anymore? " and telling us " I can do this now, you

don't need to pay someone to come in " . It was a bigger deal with the issue

for independence for her than the taking of the car keys.

Has she signed a medical power of attorney so someone else can speak to her

doctors? That was helpful for us, especially for double checking on some of

the surprises she came home with - like a diagnosis of overactive bladder.

She saw the commercials for ditripan and decided she needed that because she

had to go " all the time " (in reality she went about 3-5 times in 24 hrs. )

She didn't want to have to get up to go AT ALL. I had to go over this with

her doctor, who was quite surprised that this sweet little old lady had

pulled on over on him so easily - it was equally surprising to us!

If you or someone can, might be wise to check with her doctor on this one.

Dorothy

From: LBDcaregivers [mailto:LBDcaregivers ]

On Behalf Of turbodog15@...

Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 4:55 PM

To: LBDcaregivers

Subject: Lithium?

Hi,

Hope everyone is doing OK. I appreciate this site...not nearly enough time

to read through everything I need yet. Mom was dx'd recently. She isn't

taking any meds yet, but has been waiting for an appt with a neurologist

(one she saw previously but is now switching back to). She has said she has

bi-polar and took Lithium in the past (decades ago). She stopped after a few

years and has been off meds since then. She wanted something to help with

her mood and her primary gave her a prescription for the Lithium. Is it OK

for her to take while she waits for an appt with the neuroligist. She

mentioned something about the fact the fact that she needs to take small

doses 3x per day. Hmm...hope she can keep track of that reliably?

Thanks.